San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich had a night to remember on Tuesday after his team beat the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, 100-91. It’s a momentous night not because the Spurs managed to overcome the Knicks' Holy Trinity of Jarrett Jack, Michael Beasley, and Lance Thomas, but because the win gave Popovich solo claim of the fifth spot on the all-time coaching wins list with 1,176.
The 68-year-old Popovich entered the Knicks game tied with George Karl with 1,175 victories, which he failed to surpass in his first try in the aforementioned game versus Detroit.
Gregg Popovich passes George Karl and moves into 5th place on the @NBA's all-time winningest coaches list! pic.twitter.com/vk8LzN7xaA
— NBA TV (@NBATV) January 3, 2018




Gregg Popovich took over the Spurs’ head coaching reins way back in 1996, when he fired Bob Hill and appointed himself as the team’s new head coach to go with his role as general manager. Since then, the Spurs would become a perennial title contender, winning five NBA championships along the way.
Popovich needs 34 more wins to tie Pat Riley (1,210) at the fourth spot and 35 to get on the level of Jerry Sloan, who is third all-time with 1,221 wins. For the record, Don Nelson owns the all-time record with 1,335 victories, he had held on to it since 2010, which Popovich could one day better depending on how long he would practice his profession in the NBA.